Forum Access Changes

Hello everyone.

In a motion suggested and agreed upon among much of the active members of the temple, we are making some access / structure changes to the forums.

1. A new General Discussions forum has been created in the New Members area. This forum is able to be viewed and posted to by all registered users. Furthermore, the original General Discussion forum and Jediism forum while viewable by everyone, can now only be posted to by official temple members and up. This is to more carefully and properly moderate certain types of delicate discussions that are not as relevant or as welcomed by the core members of the temple.

2. For the time being, new users will require moderator approval when submitting threads and replies until a certain number of them have been approved. Once enough have been approved, they will no longer require approval and will be able to post without it. This only applies to new users with few to no posts yet submitted.

Both changes are aimed toward promoting a more focused flow of relevant and friendly discussion within the core of the community, while giving guests their own area to discuss topics more freely. We hope this will help improve the relevance, flow and morale of topic discussion among members without hindering freedom of communication.

Any questions concerning these changes may be posted below.

Thank you for your time.

About change #1:

I think I no longer need to express how much this makes the general discussions forum sound like a dedicated comfort zone and what I think of the value of it. But here is what I think about the labeling and categorizing:

In a club you don't have the "general area" and a dedicated "non-VIP lounge". Instead you have a "general area" and a dedicated "VIP lounge". Granting that there needs to be an area where members can have discussions uninterrupted and unfueled by guests, it should then be that area that is the special one rather than a special area for the guests. By that virtue I also think that all non-sensitive topics should be continued on a general discussion board, while sensitive matters should either be moved or henceforth started in a members-only general discussions board at their respective OP's discretion, or - in case of highly heated and sensitive matters - by interventuous Council choice. The way the labels and the contents look now it arguably seems a little like there is introduced a segregation against "non-VIPs", rather than a privilege for "VIPs". Surely, that impression was not intended.

Gisteron wrote: The way the labels and the contents look now it arguably seems a little like there is introduced a segregation against "non-VIPs", rather than a privilege for "VIPs". Surely, that impression was not intended.

If there are any suggestions for better names then we can consider them.

In my opinion, the fact that guests can't now interact as much as before (at least in the more interesting forum topics), makes the waiting until you become a member (that takes a relative amount of time) feel even longer. Having said that I completely understand the reasons behind the changes and I accept them. Let's just consider it a patience test, since patience is one of the qualities jedis should excel at

May the force be with you all

As I said, rather than "General Discussion" and "General Discussion (guests)", how about "General Discussion" and "General Discussion (members)".

Same as "General Area" and "VIP Area" rather than "General Area" and "Non-VIP Area". Purely semantic suggestion. I guess the richness of topics will come in the non-vip section in time. So far guests are just stripped off a lot of discussions they used to participate in, and to an extent I get it.

Puerh, not everyone who is a guest is willing to become a member eventually. I am considering it again, but there are people who might not. To them and to newcomers both the labels and the contents might makes a difference. It makes one to me, too, for now.

In what sense are the member forums for VIPs? The overwhelming majority of active posters have access to them, and anyone is entitled to become a member and gain that access. If you choose to sit in the lobby, that's your business - but it remains a lobby.

The implication is, clearly, that most people who come here do so with the intention of joining. Given the vast majority of active posters are of rank member or above, the primary discussion forum is, and will doubtless continue to be, the one which now requires Member rank to access - precisely to avoid the kinds of issues Proteus describes in the OP.

Given that, I don't see the need to change things from where they are today. The Guest forum is for a largely transient minority, many of whom will either progress to full members in a short space of time, or decide the Temple's not for them and leave.

tzb wrote: ...for VIPs? The overwhelming majority of active posters have access to them, and...

Dear Tzb
With all the respect. That is exactly makes me to feel bit uncomfortable. Let's say that in this case it sucks to be in the minority. I can understand that it is a way to handle with possible problem caused by guests, but i wanted to mention how negative it sounds.

A bit of suggestion it is to transfer bit exclusive (few interesting discussions) content to our little empty room, just to be able to be part in the conversation.
And the renaming idea sounds good, but i could say that something without same name could be great, something like "Visitors lobby" maybe?

Just saying as a guest here, i guess i miss the whole picture of the forum functionality, so please do not take my contributions as demands

May the Force be with you all.

Proteus wrote: Hello everyone.

In a motion suggested and agreed upon among much of the active members of the temple, we are making some access / structure changes to the forums.

Not that I contest the idea being put into place, but where was I when this idea was being thrown around? Perhaps a vote would have been more appropriate? If the question was being thrown around I obviously missed the memo...

I do agree with Zenchi...

In a motion suggested and agreed upon among much of the active members of the temple, we are making some access / structure changes to the forums.

(underlining mine)

I see nothing wrong with this at all. I believe this was implemented due to all of these massive blowout threads with heavy derailment. For example the ones that get so derailed a thread has to be split in two, in order to get the thread(s) back on track. Not stating it is necarrily the guests fault, as I'm sure if we all take a step back and observe our actions, responses, and behavior in those threads, we are all guilty of participating in the derailment, however may slight it could be.